An Abundance of Celebrations
by Josephine Stone
Summary: Neville proved his bravery during the war, yet a mere three months later his hands shook as he watched Harry Potter give a speech.


**Title:** An Abundance of Celebrations  
 **Author:** josephinestone  
 **Prompt:** #1 for amorette: He or she helps him get over his nerves. Show the little they use to help him cope. Maybe include hand holding as well and cuteness and sweetness and romance and stolen kisses!  
 **Pairing(s)/Character(s):** Neville/Pansy  
 **Word Count:** 2400  
 **Rating** : G  
 **Warnings:** None  
 **Summary:** Neville proved his bravery during the war, yet a mere three months later his hands shook as he watched Harry Potter give a speech.  
 **Author's notes:** Written for hp-mentalhealthfest. Thank you, digthewriter, for reading through this for me. Mods, thank you for being so patient with me.

* * *

Neville proved his bravery during the war, once he no longer cared about whether people saw him as a true Gryffindor or not. There was no fear in his eyes when he stared down Voldemort. There wasn't a moment of hesitation when he killed the snake bearing the last bit of Voldemort's soul. Yet—a mere three months later—his hands shook as he watched Harry Potter give a speech.

He sat in the front row off to the left side. One of the many places of honour. He was chosen by Harry as one of the people who'd have that honour—of the front row. Neville wasn't even the person giving the speech and all the eyes of the crowd still made his skin inch and his head ache.

He hoped that no one would notice, and for the most of the evening everyone who spoke to him was so wrapped up in themselves they didn't seem to, but Neville had never been one of the lucky ones. He knew he should have left as soon as the speeches were over. But as he listened to some aspiring politician talk about the war he was aboard for, a witch close to his age came to stand right next to Neville.

She'd stared at him in a calculating way that did nothing to help Neville's nerves as she had approached. Her presence next to his arm made it difficult for him to breathe, so he kept taking drinks from the small cup of water he was carrying with him.

Then the politician asked Neville a question and everything became too quiet around him as his answer was awaited.

Neville choked out some nonsequential words that he knew made no sense, and then the witch next to him laughed.

It wasn't a giggle nor was it loud. Her laugh had a low, pleasant tone, and it caused the politician to smile at her. He forgot about Neville's incoherent mumbling while she answered the question Neville was asked—but Neville had never heard in the first place. It wasn't iher/i answer though, Neville quickly understood. She said iNeville always says/i as though she were speaking for him. He was too startled to correct her, and the politician seemed pleased with the answer. Neville took another drink and looked away from the smiling pair.

This was all too much for him. He didn't care what she said for him, he was just glad he didn't have to say anything for himself at that moment. What he really wanted to do was sneak out of there. But he couldn't walk away without excusing himself. His Gram taught him better manners than that.

He just needed an opening to excuse himself—

'Would you mind terribly,' the witch said, gently taking a hold of Neville's elbow, 'if I steal him away for moment?'

The politician smiled. 'Of course not, my dear.'

Before Neville could catch his breath, she'd pulled him out of the chaos in the Great Hall and into the much quieter entryway. She kept her arm loosely wrapped around his, making it appear as if he were guiding her along instead of the other way around. The farther away from the Hall they got, the easier it was for Neville to breathe.

Embarrassment seeped through him. It was just a group of people. There was nothing to be so nervous about. He'd gone to school for years and ate with a larger group of people than that daily. Though he knew that he'd never dealt with that well either.

The witch stopped. 'You can sneak out now, if you like.'

Neville looked up to see they were standing in front of the Floo.

She kissed his cheek and squeezed his arm one last time, and then nodded to him before she turned and walked back to the party. Neville opened his mouth, but he hadn't managed to say anything and then he realised that she was too far away to hear it.

center#/center

Neville supposed it was unavoidable.

During wars, weddings and celebrations were put on hold, which meant they happened in abundance once peace returned. He found excuses to get out of most things. He couldn't leave his garden in the middle of the day. He was really tired. He had other plans. Reading about plants counted as plans.

But he couldn't say no to weddings. Not his friends' weddings. Especially when they asked him to be iin/i them.

Though, it would have been easier on him, if they could have spaced them out a little more. A wedding a year wasn't bad. Three in one summer was too much. He'd vomit if was invited to one more.

So there he was sitting across from Percy and Hermione, trying to sip Ron and Luna's wine without fainting with Percy looked too damn close to popping the question for a couple that had only been together for a couple of months. Not that Ron had been with Luna for long before he asked either. Ginny's wedding was only two months away.

The Weasley's had too damn many kids; why did he ever become friends with them in the first place?

Suddenly Harry was glaring at him and Neville's stomach dropped. Had he said that aloud?

'What are you doing here?' Harry asked as he began to stand.

Neville's jaw dropped as he tried to find words, but then he was saved by a voice from behind him.

'Sit down, Potter,' Malfoy drawled. 'We're not crashing, we were invited.'

Percy and Hermione shared a look. They were both sick of the family's drama. It was what had brought them together in the first place.

'And who invited you?'

'The bride,' Malfoy said at the same time Percy and Hermione said, 'Luna.'

Harry didn't sit down as he tried to work it out.

Luna was one of Neville's best friends. He wasn't at all surprised she'd invited Malfoy. He was only in the Manor for Easter break while she was captured, but he risked punishment from Voldemort to make sure she was okay. Neville was even less surprised when they saw the reason Malfoy was so near their table.

His seat was next to Harry's.

Neville couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Harry's face when Malfoy took his seat, and Harry checked the place card holder to make sure it was correct.

Though Neville stiffened as a witch took the seat next to his own.

He felt his eyes widen when he saw that it was ithe/i witch who had taken his arm at the memorial. He glanced at her place card holder and then back at her face. Pansy Parkinson had changed a lot in the year since the war. Her hair was longer and put up in a loose bun. Her cheeks had lost their puffiness and it made her eyes more striking. They were a very light blue. He'd never noticed that before.

Dinner was served not long after they'd arrived, so it gave everyone at the table something else to think about.

Which was good except, it gave Neville something else to be nervous about. He hadn't pictured their wedding to be one with so many courses. It wasn't Ron's style and Luna never seemed to care too much about those things either. As he stared down at the insane number of pieces of silverware; his pulse jumped.

When the first course was served, he felt a hand cover his as Pansy leaned in and whispered in his ear. 'Just start from the outside and work your way in.' She giggled as though she'd just told him a joke, and it looked to all the world as though she was flirting with him.

It worked. With everyone else concentrating on their food, and Neville finally able to concentrate on his, he began to relax. She kept her hand on his hand through most of the meal. When Malfoy gave their hands a questioning look, she brought it up to her mouth and kissed it. She only let it go after Neville laughed along with everyone else at Malfoy and Harry. What had Luna been thinking seating them next to each other?

And when dinner ended and she him asked to dance, Neville didn't even pause as he took her hand.

How exposed they were didn't hit him, until they were already in the middle of the dance floor. She smirked as his movements turned jerky, but it didn't feel condescending.

'Just breathe,' she said. 'Concentrating on the small things is what always helped me.'

'What?' Neville choked out, surprised at what she was suggesting.

'Draco counts. When we were younger it was under his breath, but just enough you could hear it. I tried it, but it just made me breath as fast as I was counting. Making sure my breath is slow and steady. That helps me much more.'

'But—' Neville glanced at Malfoy and then back at Pansy. 'You love attention.'

'iEveryone/i loves attention. It's a basic human need. It doesn't make it any less nerve wracking to be surrounded by large groups of people. Besides, it didn't start for me until during the war. I'm not afraid of the attention so much as I'm afraid if too many people notice me, they might feel the urge to attack me.'

'Why would anyone attack you?'

She shook her head at him as though he were being very naive. 'It wouldn't be the first time,' she said, and Neville realised it was because he was being naive.

Neville didn't need to concentrate on his breathing then. Not when he was talking to her.

She kissed his cheek when the song ended and after leaving Neville at his seat, escorted Malfoy out of the wedding. In their absence, Harry and Malfoy had caused a scene. Fighting, of course, about something stupid. They had so many real things they could fight about, and yet they fought about the mundane ones. During dinner Malfoy took his chastising Harry's appearance and manners to a new level: he kept straightening Harry's silverware after Harry touched them.

center#/center

A few months later, Neville was dressed up again and awkwardly standing near a wall at Ginny and Dean's wedding. He searched the room fruitlessly for Pansy. He didn't know why he was looking. He knew she wouldn't have been invited to this wedding, and he didn't see anyone that would have brought her as their guest.

There were a lot more guests at this wedding than there had been at Ron and Luna's. Ron and Luna had the same small group of friends, and Luna had fewer members in her family. Dean's family was huge, and he also had a lot of Muggle friends from his childhood he was still very close with.

Without Pansy there, Neville couldn't seem to stop fidgeting. So he got a drink to calm his nerves instead.

And then another five minutes later.

Dean had a lot of sisters, and one of them kept looking at Neville. He couldn't remember her name. There were too many new names to keep track of. He tried not to make eye contact with her, because she could have taken it as an invitation to talk to him. Then he'd have to stumble around not knowing her name until someone else said it.

Oh, Merlin, not making eye contact had not worked. She was headed straight for him. Neville looked around for a place to escape before he made a fool of himself. He still had his empty glass in his hand and set it down quickly on the cake table so he wouldn't have to come back after he left.

As he made his way past the table to the door his hip jammed into the corner. The table scratched across the floor, gathering everyone's attention. Situations like that had happened to him so many times before, he should've been used to it by then. But the sea of eyes made him freeze. Then all their eyes shifted and his gaze followed theirs.

The cake had lost balance from the shifting of the table. It was falling towards him. A spell shot out of nowhere and stopped the cake from tumbling over. Yet bits of frosting still speckled his face and dress robes.

Once everyone was sure the cake was fine, everyone began to breathe easy again and the laughter started. Even Neville laughed it off as he always did. He laughed when his nerves were on edge. It made more than one person think he was oh so brave during the war. With him laughing, no one stopped him from leaving the room to get cleaned up. Just like his first years of Hogwarts, they assumed he was fine.

Neville was shaking when he stepped out into the sun. He gripped his wand tightly, not sure if he wanted to attempt a spell or walk home covered in bits of cake. He could walk until he'd calmed down, but he'd be home before that happened if he passed by many people on the street. They'd be sure to give him odd looks, because of his speckled appearance.

He took a breath and began to walk when he felt the cake disappear off his face.

Looking up, he saw Pansy leaning against the building as she twirled her wand and stared down at her feet.

He smiled as he walked toward her. 'I didn't expect you to come.'

'Officially, I didn't.' Pansy looked up at him as he finished closing the distance between them. She pushed off the wall and they began to walk. Neville headed towards his flat, because he couldn't think of a better direction to head. She didn't try to change their path.

'Are you invited to Seamus' wedding?'

Pansy shook her head. 'They aren't friends with any Slytherins that I know of.'

'I'd like the next one to be an actual date.'

'I thought it already was.'

He smiled at the thought.

She stopped in front of him forcing him to stop as well, and stood on the tips of her toes so she could press her lips against his. Then, she pulled back to kiss his nose, before they continued on their way.


End file.
